Why Can't You Stay Dead?
by littlemalfoy
Summary: A month before Hermione and Severus' wedding, Lily comes back from the dead obsessed with stealing Severus away. He doesn't want Lily anymore, but she's now too crazy to take a hint. Sev/Her OOC!Lily. If you like Lily, don't read!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I never imagined that getting married could instill in me feelings of joy _and _misery at the same time. Joy, because I was about to marry a man that I was hopelessly in love with. Misery, because I was almost positive that though he loved me, he was still _more _in love with someone else.

My name is Hermione Granger, soon to be Hermione Granger-Snape, and the only thing standing in the way of eternal happiness with the man I love is a certain red-headed dead woman who happens to be my best friend's mother. Lily Potter was someone that I both admired and hated.

"A knut for your thoughts?" said a silky voice behind me.

I turned around in my chair and smiled.

"I'm just daydreaming. How were classes?"

Severus groaned, slipping off his robes and hanging them up.

"Dreadful."

"You always say that," I teased.

"That's because it always is." He leaned in to kiss me, the sensation of his warm lips pressed against mine making me moan.

"So what were you daydreaming about?" he asked, sitting beside me at the table and pulling out a pile of essays he was to grade.

"Getting married," I responded vaguley.

---

I stayed awake that night, staring at the ceiling and thinking. I wouldn't have been so worried about Lily if there was no chance of her return - but there was.

Dumbledore had cast a spell on Voldemort a few years before the Potters were murdered. It ensured that if Voldemort permanently lost the war - in other words, died for good - every magical person he murdered from that point on would be brought back to life, unless death was a welcome escape for them. Harry, Ron and I managed to lure the idiot into a no-magic zone and lock him in. He was shackled to a wall with no way to use his powers, and there is only one horocrux that needs to be found. Once we destroy it, we could waltz into the room, stab the bastard to death, and the war would be over forever. Lily, James and every other person he murdered - directly or through his followers - after Dumbledore's spell would be brought back to life. I sighed. Just two years ago, I would have been overjoyed at the prospect of Lily's return. Now, though, I had mixed feelings. If she came back, would Severus dump me and resume chasing after her? Would he stay with me but secretly long for her? What if she finally came to her senses and wanted him too?

"Daydreaming again?" Severus asked, his tone knowing. He had awoken and, apparently, had been staring at me long enough to realize I was depressed.

"What's wrong?" He asked when I didn't respond. His voice revealed that he was feeling insecure - that he was preparing himself for the worst.

"Oh, get off it! I'm not leaving you, Severus. And before you ask, nor do I want to."

He visibly relaxed, but his eyes were still full of suspicion.

"Then why, pray tell, do you look as if someone died?"

"It's not about who died," I mumbled bitterly, "It's about who's coming back to life."

"Ah. You mean Lily."

I didn't respond, staring resolutely at the ceiling and struggling not to cry.

He sighed.

"Hermione, I love _you_."

"And her." I added.

"I'll always love Lily," he admitted, "But you're the one that I want to spend my life with. You're the only one I want to marry."

"If she loved you, would you marry her?" I was ashamed of how shaky my voice was.

"No." he responded without hesitation.

"What if I never exsisted? What if she was the only one?"

"I..." he took a deep breath. "I hesitated to admit this, even to myself. But the truth is Lily and I would never work. If you didn't exsist, I might have married her - because I would have never been pulled away from my obsession with her. We would soon divorce, though. She hates everything about me. She liked my personality, but that was about it. My intrests, the way I walked, the way I dressed - it all got on her nerves. Every time we argued, she accused me of being a hater of muggleborns. And to be honest, her blind loyalty the "Gryfindors do no wrong." doctrine pissed me off quite a bit. It seemed at times that though she was booksmart, she had no common sense."

"Something you used to say about me," I pointed out.

"I used to," he admitted. "But now I know better. You tried to stop your friends from doing stupid things, and you aren't afraid to tell them when they were being idiots. Though Lily occasionaly did those things, once it came to admitting their wrongs to _others_, she used every excuse in the book to defend them. It was always my fault that Potter was a bully. Apparently, I _tempted _him too much because of my fascination with the dark arts. You never made such excuses with the young Potter and Weasley. And you don't think it's "wierd" to be devoted to mastering potions instead of charms. I don't feel exhausted after five minutes of conversation with you. "

I stared at him with soft eyes.

"You're sweet," I whispered.

He looked at me in alarm.

"Don't get cocky. With you, it takes _15 _minutes."

I grinned at him.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment and shag you anyway." I said, straddling him.

He leaned up into my kiss, his eyes glittering.

"No objections here," I said silkily, rolling me onto my back.

--

The next morning at breakfast, I was in a very good mood. I had recieved my NEWT scores, and they were absoluetly perfect - I hadn't gotten a single question wrong. The last person to score that high was my future husband. I wasn't worried about anything. At least, not until Harry leaned over and told me the good news.

"Dumbledore got rid of the horocrux last night, Hermione! We get to do the honors of beheading the snake-eyed bastard _today_!"

I was happy for him. Truly, deeply happy. Harry had lived his entire teen life with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and now, finally, he would be free.

I just hoped Severus wasn't bluffing when he said he was over Lily.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry didn't get to kill Voldemort – the aurors did. In fact, they didn't even let him watch. They said they didn't want to scar him. I almost laughed aloud at that one. Harry probably had more scars than any member of that idiot team. He had to make due with what he did get to experience – hearing Voldemort's screams of agony as they shoved the knife into him over and over again. I had to admit, it was pretty satisfying to hear.

That day, the resurrected people piled into the Great Hall, hugging their relatives and crying. Harry and Severus were awarded Orders of Merlin, First Class. Severus accepted his and gave no customary speech before leaving the stage. Now that he had finally gotten the award he had been craving, he realized how unimportant it was.

"You're the only prize I need," he growled in my ear, wrapping his arm around my waist and pressing his lips to my throat.

Harry quickly thanked Ron, Dumbledore and I before dashing down. He cut through the crowds of people, looking desperately for his parents. I was about to go help him when the minister called my name. Shocked, I stumbled upstairs. The minister handed me an Order of Merlin, First Class, and spouted off a list of my achievements. I was in such a daze that I hardly heard him – he said something about me being the one of the most important brains behind the war effort, but that was all I remembered. Everyone cheered and I made a quick speech, thanking Ron, Harry, Severus and my parents. They called Ron's name next, and I was sad to see that his award was only an Order of Merlin, Third Class, but Ron seemed happy enough, and Molly's smile couldn't have been any wider.

"Hermione! Look!" Harry was burrowing through the crowd, dragging Lily and James behind him. When I saw her, I became immediately worried. She was beautiful, with long, flowing red hair that ended at her waist and bright emerald green eyes.

"Hi! You must be Hermione. Harry's been talking about you and Ronald non-stop since he found us." Lily laughed.

I shook her hand, noticing that she seemed slightly distracted.

"Do you know Severus Snape?" she asked, "I was looking for him, but I can't seem to find him anywhere."

Behind her, James rolled his eyes.

"Severus? Yea, I know him," I said, trying to sound casual. "He's my fiancé."

Her face fell.

"What? Are we talking about the same man? How old are you?"

Before I could answer, Severus appeared behind me.

"They really need to get a better grip on the damn crowd. If I have to shove - " He froze mid-sentence when his eyes fell on my companions.

"Hello, Lily." he said softly, "_Potter_."

"Hello, _Snivelus_." James responded, his eyes narrowed.

"Hi, Sev." Lily said softly. "Hermione here tells me you're getting married."

"Yes, next month." His lips twisted into a proud smirk.

"Oh." she said blankly. I wondered if I was the only one that heard the disappointment in her voice - apparently not, because James began glaring furiously at Severus.

"She's a little young, isn't she? How did you meet?"

"He was my Professor," I responded. She turned to me, startled. Apparently she'd forgotten I was in the room.

"Your Professor? Isn't that a bit... inappropriate?" she seemed delighted to find a reason to fault our relationship.

"Yes, well," I smiled politely, but my eyes were murderous. "It makes for interesting role-play."

Everyone was shocked. I was usually very reserved about my relationship, too proper to even talk about our romantic dinners, let alone kinky sex. Harry turned green, Lily turned red, Severus raised an eyebrow and James suppressed a snicker. Since they were men, ignorant to the secret language of women, James, Harry and Severus assumed I had slipped and accidentally let that little secret out. But Lily was a woman, like me. She knew _exactly_ what I meant:

'I _know_ you want my man, so get ready for war.'


	3. Chapter 3

When I awoke the next morning, I was sure I was still dreaming. I distinctly remembered going to bed in – well, a bed. But there I was, sitting at a desk in the potions classroom, my head resting on the table. What's more, I felt as rested and comfortable as if I had slept on a cloud all night – and the short, way-under regulation school skirt and too-tight uniform shirt were definitely nothing like the pjs I had went to bed in – which usually consisted of Severus' shirt and cotton knee-high socks.

"Surprised?"

I recognized the voice immediately as my future husband's and turned to find him leaning against a wall at the back of the classroom wearing a satisfied little smirk.

"You see, I was considering your words yesterday, and I realized something strange," he began, advancing towards me. His eyes were so dark with lust that I couldn't tell were his pupil ended and his iris began. "We've played nearly every game there is – Auror and Criminal, Doctor and Patient, Kidnapper and Victim...but it had never even occurred to us to try the Student-Teacher scenario. I find that a little odd, considering who we are. Don't you agree, _Miss Granger_?"

I shivered in anticipation as he stopped in front of my desk. He grabbed my chin and tilted my head up so that I was looking directly into his eyes.

"I asked you a question, Miss Granger, and I expect you to answer it." he hissed.

_Oh, this sounds fun, _I thought excitedly.

Just as I was about to respond, someone began violently pounding on the door. I could clearly hear Lily talking loudly on the other side.

"See, they're in there! I told you, didn't I? This is horrifying – to think, a student trying to seduce her teacher. Disgusting! She should be expelled, or -"

Her sentence was cut short when Severus, cursing under his breath, yanked the door open to reveal a triumphant-looking Lily and a thoroughly surprised Albus Dumbledore.

"But Mrs. Potter," Dumbledore said, confused. "You said there was a secret student-teacher affair in Hogwarts. Severus and Hermione aren't a secret! Everyone knows about them."

"But...but why would you allow them carry on like this, yet march down here with me in the hopes of catching some other couple? It's a double standard! You would have punished someone else for a crime that _they_ are publicly committing!"

"It depends on the situation," Dumbledore explained patiently. "When I caught Severus and Hermione earlier this year, they were already secretly engaged. If they were simply dating I would have forced them to end the relationship and of course both parties would have been punished. But if they are willing to marry each other, I'd like to think that means that they are in love – and I would never interfere with two people that love each other."

Lily glared at me hatefully.

"She's eighteen years old," she spat, "What the hell does _she _know about love?"

"What do _you _know about me?" I shot back. For a moment, a flicker of shame crossed Lily's face when she realized how ridiculous she seemed – hating a girl that she knew nothing about. But the second passed, and so did her moment of sanity. The hate returned full force and she stormed away, her face bright red with anger.

Dumbledore smiled apologetically at us before retiring to his office. I turned to look at Severus, who was staring at me, solemn-faced.

"She wants you," I informed him.

"I can tell." he laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes. But not for the reasons you think I do. It's more like revenge." His lips twisted into a wicked smirk, and I smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.

I glanced around the classroom and frowned.

"She has horrible timing," I complained. "I was looking forward to this."

"Oh really?" Damn, he was doing the arched eyebrow thing again. How he made it look so sexy, I'll never know. He took a step forward and instinctively, I took one back, feeling my back hit the wall. He leaned over until his lips brushed against my ear.

"I don't recall you asking permission to stand, Miss Granger." he whispered, "Such blatant disregard for authority must not go unpunished."

I grinned. Lily must've been one idiotic teen to choose James over _this_, but I couldn't have been happier that she didn't smarten up in time.

James sat behind me in the library that day, staring intently at the back of my head. I tried not to notice as I picked out a few good books to take out – we were now in that awkward part of the school year, were testing and classes were done but the school year was not yet over, and I needed something to do. I had almost convinced myself that I had completely imagined his odd behavior when I noticed he was following me down the halls. Sighing in defeat, I turned to him and faced the problem head-on.

"Is there something you wanted?" I asked. My voice was firm but not confrontational – the last thing I needed was to get in a wand fight with Harry's father. The poor boy was already confused about his parents – half the school had heard his mother going loco outside the potions classroom that morning.

"I need to talk to you about Snivellus." he explained.

My eyes narrowed.

"_Severus_." I corrected.

He made a face.

"What about Snape?"

"Fine. What about him?"

"Lily seems to...have a little crush on him. I'm worried." he admitted.

"It's nothing less than you deserve," I said unsympathetically.

His eyes flashed with anger.

"Just keep your git of a fiancé away from my wife." he snarled.

"My fiancé wants nothing to do with your wife. She's the one that crazy about him. Keep _her_ away from _him_, and we'll both be happy."

With that said, I turned and stormed away.

Harry and Ron exchanged worried looks when I slammed my books on the table of the Great Hall and began viscously attacking my steak.

"Er...Hermione?" Ron asked hesitantly, "Is something wrong?"

I opened my mouth, ready to jump into a rant about James, when my eyes caught Harry's and I realized with whom I was speaking. My shoulders slumped – it felt odd to be so upset and not be able to confide in them.

"It's nothing, Ronald. It's just...um...girl problems."

Ron shrugged and dug into a chicken leg greedily, but Harry stared at me for a second longer than usual before resuming his meal. I could tell that he knew I was lying – and he suspected it was to protect him.

"If you need any help with your problem, Hermione," he said, "I'm completely on your side."

Ron stared at him, alarmed, but I knew exactly what he meant. Tears welled in my eyes at his loyalty – Harry was taking my side …against his parents.


	4. Chapter 4

Many people envied my position as Head Girl – they thought, "You can give out detentions? Cool!". It was actually not as amazing as it sounded. If you gave out a punishment, the other students thought you were stuffy and mean. If you told on someone that was misbehaving, people though you were a brown-noser. If you decided not to do any of the above, you could easily lose your position. I decided to approach my duties as a Head Girl the same way I approached everything else: I was going to do what I felt was right, whether people hated me for it or not. But even if I _was_ a slacker at my job, I would have still reported what had happened that day.

Kris Lorel, a seventh year Hufflepuff, had attempted to kill another student.

Over a girl.

Apparently, after the other boy - a seventh year Slytherin named Jimmy Falon - had been murdered by death eaters, Kris saw it as a perfect opportunity to steal Jimmy's girlfriend Felicity. But Felicity never took a liking to Kris, avoiding all of his advances, and as soon as Jimmy was resurrected, the two became a couple again.

Kris had been extremely upset about the situation, and his level of anger had been shocking – especially for a Hufflepuff.

But even more shocking was Jimmy's reaction to the spell – or lack of reaction. The Avada Kedavra, which had obviously been well-cast (otherwise it wouldn't have even left Kris' wand) had bounced off of the other boy without harming a hair on his head.

If it were any other spell, I would have assumed that the Jimmy had cast a shield charm on himself, anticipating Kris' attack. But if Avada Kedavra could be stopped with a simple shield charm, it wouldn't be so feared. The fact is, _nothing _can stop a well performed Avada. That's why Harry was so famous for surviving it.

Needless to say, I dragged both students to Dumbledore's office immediately and waited outside as he talked to them. He kept the two boys in his office for a long time, performing tests and asking them to reenact the situation again – using less dangerous spells, of course. When he was done, he called me back into his office to explain to me what I had seen. Apparently, the resurrected victims of the war were now immune to magic. It bounced off of them as if they were surrounded by a huge protective bubble. Unfortunately, this meant they had also lost their ability to perform magic. They did have one special power left, though – the ability to adjust the transparency of their bodies. With practice, they would be able to make themselves invisible, solid, or anything in between.

Jimmy had been surprisingly calm about the news. When I asked him about it, he just shrugged and said, "Hey, anything's better than being dead." Kris was expelled from Hogwarts and arrested for attempting to cast an unforgivable. I had no doubt that he would get life in Azkaban. It was unfortunate, but really, he had it coming to him.

Of course, I immediately went to go tell Harry and Ron what had happened – Severus was out buying potions ingredients and probably wouldn't get back until late at night. Both of the boys said that they would much rather just risk getting hurt than give up their powers. I agreed wholeheartedly.

For a moment, I felt sorry for Lily and James. A second later, the moment passed and I have to admit, I began to find the situation a little bit funny.

When I finally got to bed that night, I was exhausted. Between filling out paperwork, giving statements to Aurors and retelling the story for the entire Gryffindor common room, I hardly had time to breathe. Just as I was about to doze, I heard the bedroom door open and Severus came in. He slipped into bed next to me and yawned, pulling me close.

"Did you hear about Kris Lorel?" I asked him quietly. His eyes were closed, but I knew instinctively that he wasn't asleep yet.

"Yes. Albus just told me." he responded sleepily. He opened his eyes and looked at me soberly. "I'm relieved, actually. Now I can be sure that Lily won't try to harm you – well, with magic, anyway."

"Do you think she would want to?" I asked, alarmed.

"I don't know what to think. It's like she's a completely different person – she's never been like this before. It's rather disturbing, to be honest. I was worried that I might eventually be forced to hex my former best friend."

"You would have hexed Lily for me?" I asked.

He blinked at me.

"Did you think for a second that I wouldn't? Hermione, I've told you a thousand times. I love _you_, not - "

He stopped talking suddenly and turned to stare at something in the corner of the room.

"What is it?"

"I heard something." he responded quietly. Sneering, he got up, grabbing his wand. Eyes narrowed, he snatched at the corner of the room until his hand found purchase.

"Reveal yourself," he commanded, "Or I will make you beg for death."

Slowly but surely, the figure became visible. I gasped, horrified, when I saw who the intruder was.

Lily Potter had broken into our quarters – and Merlin only knows how long she had been spying.


	5. Chapter 5

Severus was furious. His face was bright red, and his eyes were even darker than usual – he looked ready to hex her.

"How long have you been doing this?" he ground out angrily.

"A..a few days." Lily stuttered.

Severus squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control himself. I flushed in anger and embarrassment. If she had been doing this for a few days, it meant that she had seen us having sex.

"How could you have done that?" I demanded, "You're nothing like Dumbledore described – you're a _creep_!"

"I just wanted to see if it was real!" Lily protested.

"If _what_ was real?"

"You! This…this _relationship_. I thought, well, I thought maybe it was some kind of joke, or some plan of the Headmasters for the _greater good_. I know You-Know-Who is dead but…" She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "You're only a teenager! Do you think you can handle marriage? Especially to Severus – one of the most difficult men out there?"

"I _love _him," I said firmly.

"So do I! What makes you better than me?"

"Lily," Severus interrupted, his voice dangerously low, "Get out. _Now._"

"Why should I? You can't use magic on me." Lily smirked.

"I don't _need _to use magic." Severus warned.

Her face paled.

"Fine. I'll leave. But when you see logic, come see me at –"

"_Get. Out._"

She hesitated for a moment, then turned and left our rooms. Once she was gone, Severus checked all of the doors in our quarters.

"The wards are still up. She must be immune to them because they're magical." Severus sighed and collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "We'll have to get muggle locks tomorrow."

"You seem upset." I sat gingerly on the bed next to him.

He turned to me, his eyes incredulous.

"Aren't you?"

"I don't mean angry…I mean sad – depressed."

Severus groaned. "Hermione, I already told you -"

"I know, Severus," I interrupted. "I know you don't want her romantically anymore...but she was your friend. Your best friend. It must be hard for you to see her this way."

Severus paused. "It is. I suppose when I heard she would be coming back, a part of me hoped we could be friends again - like my friendship with Minerva and Albus. But...she's so different now. The Lily I knew would've never wanted to cheat on her husband, or try to steal someone's fiance."

I nodded. "When I heard of her upcoming resurrection, well, of course there was the jealousy and worry. But..in the "best case scenario" I kept thinking of, the three of us were good friends. You, because of your past, and me, because of Harry. I'd imagined Lily maybe being the godmother to our children, or at least an Aunt-like figure in their lives -"

"Children?" Severus asked suddenly.

"Yes. Don't you want kids?"

"I never thought about it. I mean, I'm not exactly talented with them."

I hesitated. "I'm sure you'd do fine. I really comes down to whether you want them or not."

"If you want them, then I do. I suppose I'd be better interacting with our offspring than others – we can make sure they don't grow up to be like Longbottom....or, God forbid, Weasley."

"Hey! Those are my friends." I scolded, though I couldn't help smiling. "Well, it's good that you're okay with it, because at this point, there really isn't much of a choice." I slid back under the covers and yawned.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Severus asked slowly.

"Oh? Didn't I tell you?" I asked teasingly "I'm pregnant...and Poppy says we're having twins."

I snuggled deeper in the covers. A few moments passed, and I opened one eye to check his reaction.

"Close your mouth, love." I said sleepily, "Your jaw is dragging on the floor."


End file.
